The Buckaroo Diamond
by TubaChick101
Summary: In the old west setting of Manhattan, New York, a special archaeological discovery catches the eye of an unknown thief. Four cowboys search for answers in order to save the rare jewel, but is there more to the gem than meets the eye? 2k12 universe. Inspired by an episode that I will reveal in the final chapter (those who know which one it is, please don't ruin it. :3)
1. Chapter 1

**The Buckaroo Diamond**

**Chapter 1**

The heat of a bright sun beat down on the civilians of a growing town. Along the wood and log buildings of the town's market place, horses and carriages were tied securely to posts awaiting their riders and kids haphazardly scurried through the streets.

Along the road, the breeze unsettled the dust next to the boots of a large reptile that stood with his three fingered hands gripping his belt loops. A sheriff's star was pinned to his leather vest that blinded onlookers when it was touched by the sunlight. Light blue eyes squinted behind a dark blue mask that was knotted at the back of his round green head. A leather cowboy hat protected him from the unmerciful sun. The blue masked sheriff surveyed the scene before him. Another bank had been robbed. In two weeks, three banks had been robbed in the county. Not just any banks, but banks owned by a very wealthy businessman who also lived in the town of Manhattan. A man of Japanese decent named Oroku Saki.

The sheriff's eyes twitched when his deputy popped his gum that he'd been chewing… again. Sheriff Leonardo turned to the deputy, Raphael, a red masked turtle whose hand anxiously gripped the holster of his gun. Raph had been the deputy for three years, and had a reputation for his impulsive nature and ruthless interrogations. He once made a serial killer cry. (At least that's what convicts tell their cellmates to scare them.) Finally Raph adjusted the hat on his head and said, "Another robbery, and still no suspects. This is getting out of hand." He then stomped into the disheveled bank. The windows were smashed, and behind the tellers' booths was an array of cashiers carelessly thrown aside, cash and coins were scattered across the floor.

A nervous middle aged man stood across from a third turtle, this one wore an orange mask. He was all smiles, and trying to keep the witness calm. The turtle was known as Mikey by his friends, and he had a lot of those. He was newer to the force, and had only recently completed training and was allowed to work in the field. Like the other two turtles, he had a gun on his hip, boots on his two-toed feet, and a hat on his head. (It looks good to have a more uniform look among the officers, its more "professional", as the sheriff insists.) He held a folder open in his hand and flipped through papers of files on notorious bank robbers that have recently been released from jail. He held one picture up, "Okay, dude, how about this one? The guy's got an eye-patch, they're usually pretty dangerous. Does he look familiar?"

The balding man pushed his glasses farther up on his nose and shook his head furiously. "No, I told you, I was just working my shift while the other teller was on lunch break, and then all of the sudden the main vault exploded open." Mikey closed the folder and scratched his head. "Soo… did you actually _see_ anybody?" The man took of his glasses and started cleaning them with his shirt. He let out a heavy sigh. "I know this sounds crazy, but I didn't see anyone. And the stranger thing is, all of the money seems to still be here. Of course, I'll have to go through and count it all, just to be sure…"

Mikey slung an arm around the teller's shoulders, "No worries, dude, we'll catch the weird ghost-man. I think I'm out of questions, but stay here in case there's anything else."

The main vault was charred and bent from an explosion, and inside the once-secured room a fourth turtle wearing a purple bandana snapped pictures on a Polaroid camera of all the damage and mumbled to himself. He repeatedly removed his hat to scratch at his head. He finally straightened, "Hey, guys, come look at this!"

The three turtles shuffled in. The detective, Donatello, looked at the pictures. "Don't bank robbers usually, you know, take money?"

Raph rolled his eyes, "That's usually the idea, detective. What about it?" Donnie handed the camera to Mikey and said, "Nothing in here was touched. Aside from trespassing and property damage, there really isn't any major crime." Leo tilted his head thoughtfully, "That's the same case with the other robberies, just breaking in and leaving…" Raph crossed his arms across his plastron. "Breaking into a highly secured vault, not touching any money, and somehow doing it without being seen." Donnie dropped his gaze to the floor in concentration, and Mikey's hand shot in the air as if raising his hand to answer a question the teacher asked. "Maybe the guy's gotten poor service from the tellers and just wants to mess with them."

Silence.

Finally, Leo deadpanned, "That's highly unlikely."

Donnie shook his head. "The stranger thing is, although there were explosives used, I also found these knives…" Donnie held up a bag that held three knives with a snake wrapped around the handles. "… Two were embedded in the walls, and one seemed to be used as a tool to carve up the floor in the vault, like they were trying to dig for something."

Mikey crossed his arms. "Psh. If he was digging for gold he should've used a shovel. Everyone knows you use a shovel." Donnie glared at his younger brother. "That's beside the point, Mikey. The point is that explosives and throwing knives? Those seem like two completely different method types. One is extreme, and the other can be just as dangerous in the right hands, but not as wild. It's like two different personalities that don't mix."

Leo looked at the damaged floor. "So you're saying there might be two people we're looking for?" Donnie looked through the photos. "Possibly. It's hard to say for sure."

Raph was getting more and more frustrated, "Look, unless there's any real chance of us finding any answers here, I say we just write up the police report and get out of here." Without a response, he turned and headed towards the main entrance. Leo sighed and followed with Mikey and Donnie close behind. Mikey waved to the teller and Donnie glanced at the shattered windows. Don turned, "Hey Mikey, can I see the camera?" Mikey tossed him the camera and Donnie quickly went to work at capturing the state of the broken glass. Leo shot a puzzled look in his direction. "What do you make of it Donnie?" The purple clad turtle poked his head through the open door to the front of the bank and pointed to the glass shards on the ground. "Usually, when someone is robbing a bank, they break _into_ the building, leaving glass all over the inside. But this glass is on the _outside_, like someone was escaping."

Leo looked up at the window. "So how did he get in?" Mikey guffawed and his eyes grew wide. "Dudes! He's invisible _and_ he can teleport? He must be like, a comic book character or something!"

Donnie glared at Mikey. "Be reasonable. That's impossible! Nobody has super powers, and nobody can just… disappear."

Raph turned away from the debating duo at the sound of horse hooves beating down on the dusty path. A black horse with an iron bridle adorned in blood red saddle gear plowed towards the bank. Raph sneered when the horse started to slow as it neared them. "I hate to break this up, but it looks like we've got company."

The turtles turned as the horse came to a halt. Oroku Saki glared down from his horse, not giving them the respect of dismounting and being at eye-level. He was notorious for doing little things to remind them of his wealth and power (and famous big ego).

His voice boomed. "Officers, please tell me that you have caught the worm that has been giving me trouble." Leo fought to keep his composure, "Unfortunately, no, but-"

"So you have a suspect?" Saki waited for an answer that did not come. "A lead, then? A clue? Have you turtles found anything on this case? I already have to pay out of pocket for the repairs on my buildings and I'm growing impatient."

Leo shuffled his feet uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "We have everything under control." Saki growled, "That's not good enough!" Donnie furiously scribbled in his notebook and started to perk up. "As a matter of fact, we do have something. We know what the mysterious 'ghost' wants." Mikey looked at Donnie with a confused expression. "We do?" Leo turned from Saki and whispered fiercely, "We do?"

Raph snagged the opportunity and smirked at the businessman. "Yup, we do, and it's classified, for officers' eyes only. So, as you were." On that note, the deputy shoved his brothers and they stumbled into a fast paced walk, leaving Saki to his own thoughts.

Mikey looked around the group as they walked. "Soo am I the only one who missed the part where we figured something out? Because I missed the whole 'eureka' moment thing."

Donnie tapped his pencil against his notebook as they walked. "Think about it, all these robberies have one thing in common: Oroku Saki. And none of the money has been touched, which means they're looking for something different. And what else could there be of precious value held in Manhattans' Saki-owned banks?"

Leo brought a hand to his forehead. "Of course! The Buckaroo Diamond!" Raph groaned. "Nobody knows which bank the diamond is hidden in though." Donnie grinned from ear to ear, "Correction, two people know. The man who discovered the diamond was our own resident archeologist, Kirby O'neil. Mr. O'neil and his daughter should both know which bank they've hidden it away in. We're going to their house next."

Mikey elbowed his nerdy brother and mumbled, "You just want another excuse to see her again." Mikey chuckled when his blushing brother didn't respond.


	2. Chapter 2

**The** **Buckaroo Diamond**

**Chapter 2**

Kirby O'neil was a strange man. That was the first impression the turtles had. Mikey had heard of Donnie's unlikely friend found in Kirby (probably only because of his family ties with the red-headed beauty), and had been serving as Donnie's confidant. Sheriff Leo was always busy, and Deputy Raph wasn't patient (or trustworthy) enough for Donnie to even consider.

Donnie led his brothers off the main streets to a grassy trail leading uphill to a shabby looking log cabin. It was larger than most homes, since Kirby was a pack-rat and always needed more room to accommodate for his research. The lawn wasn't tended and sported tall grass and unruly weeds, with April being the Kirby's only child, and nobody to help the busy man with his lawn, the house had a slightly dreary look to it.

Donnie walked up the creaky front porch steps and knocked on the door. He nervously shuffled his feet (which did not go unnoticed by the others), and when the door opened, his brothers started to understand why Donnie was interested in her. The petite young woman was dressed in a casual yellow dress and corset, her hair was pulled into a bun that was covered by a simple bonnet, and stray locks of red hair framed her face. Her blue eyes lit up, "Donnie! It's good to see you again." She opened the door a little wider and saw the officers. "Oh, and you brought friends. Come in."

April deflated a little at the sight of the other officers. Being visited by those in the police force was hardly ever a good thing. Donnie of course was completely oblivious and proceeded to engage in small talk. "How's your cat?"

Raph mentally slapped his dorky brother. The cat? Really? He'd never felt such strong second-hand embarrassment, and he coughed, "Well, what we really came here for was to ask about the Buckaroo Diamond…" April led them through the kitchen and started chattering good naturedly. "Of course! The diamond was my father's biggest project, one of his best works yet. He spent years searching for it." April opened the door to a messy room. A thin middle-aged man with thinning red hair bent over a very messy desk. Along the wall that the desk faced were newspaper clippings and articles from books of his recognition and achievements. The rest of the walls were taped up with pages from college books and clippings and blurry pictures from mentally questionable hunters, different papers were connected across the wall with colored string to mark the potential connections and clues of the myths that Kirby O'neil was so fascinated with.

Donnie cleared his throat. "Hi, Mr. O'neil. I was just wondering if-"Kirby stood up immediately, knocking over his chair and sending some loose papers flying. "Oh, Donatello! It's so good to see you again." Kirby rushed over and started to furiously shake Donnie's hand and blather on about his latest project, "It's been awhile! I've been working on something really interesting; I think you might have some insight to this. I'm investigating the possibilities of the existence of other sentient life forms in the Milky Way." Donnie perked up, and Mikey scratched his head and whispered to Leo, "Dude, I didn't know there was another person out there who spoke fluent 'nerd' as much as Donnie."

Leo cleared his throat. "Mr. O'neill, we are here to discuss the security of the Buckaroo Diamond." Kirby sobered up very quickly at the mention of the diamond. "Oh, oh I see. Is everything okay?" Donnie scratched the back of his head. "We aren't sure. There have been a series of robberies targeting the banks owned by Oroku Saki. We think that they might be trying to find the diamond."

Kirby rubbed his chin. "I see. That could be very unfortunate. The diamond could be worth millions."

Mikey perked up, "Just tell us where the diamond is hidden and we can keep it safe."

Kirby nervously rubbed his hands together. "Ah, yes. You see, the thing is, I don't know where it is."

The turtles' eyes bugged out of their heads and Raph yelled "What do you mean you don't know?!"

Kirby ran a hand through his disheveled thin hair. "You see… I cut a deal with Oroku Saki's young charge, Miss Karai." Raph bristled and hissed "That snake?" Leo pulled Raph back, "She's not that bad!"

Kirby backtracked. "I'm sorry. I wanted to keep the diamond completely safe, and Karai proposed to me that she could set up the best security and guards to keep it hidden. If you need to talk to her, she manages a hair salon uptown called 'Klear Kutz'."

Leo and Raph looked at each other. About a year and a half ago, they'd gotten reports that some of her, err, "employees" had been spotted transporting questionable substances. It was time to pull out that file again. At that moment, April decided to join them in her father's office and held on a tray steaming cups of tea. "Is anyone thirsty?" Donnie's attention was immediately stolen away from the nervous archeologist and he started to reach for a cup, "Of course! Thanks April."

Raph pulled down Donnie's hand and Leo quickly apologized, "Actually, we really need to go, thanks Mr. O'neil!" Raph dragged Donnie away who called back a 'goodbye' to April. Mikey waved at each of them and Leo simply tipped his hat before heading out.

Raph glared at Leo. "I told you we should've gone tougher on her. There's no telling what will happen if she decides to get her claws on that diamond." Leo ground his teeth together. "I happen to trust Karai, and you should too." Mikey shoved in between the two brothers as they walked. "Um, would anyone care to clue me in?" Raph sneered, "Listen up, rookie. Karai is bad news, and she hides it behind a face only Leo could love."

Leo sputtered. "She happens to be quite pretty. And she's not bad news, Mikey. Just a little misguided, that's all." Donnie muttered, "'Misguided' is the term used for teens and kids selling drugs or stealing. Karai is… something else." Leo held out an arm as a signal to halt. "Let me make something clear: we will go back to the station and pull up the files we need. But I want everyone on this team to keep an open mind. Got it?"

Raph rolled his neck and shrugged. "Whatever you say, 'fearless leader'. Let's just get this over with."

Mikey hadn't caught what Leo said at all, though. He had seen something. Something… so different and so colorful… something… something that could let him escape to a completely different world…

Mikey's mouth opened and his mouth started watering. "Dudes… I have seen the future." That got their attention. The three stared at the youngest and Donnie so much as waved a hand in front of his face. This went unnoticed by the rookie. Raph sighed and lightly smacked the back of his head. "What's your deal, man?" Mikey dramatically waved a hand towards the words painted on a window across the street. "I have seen the future, and the future involves the eating of the uncharted food known as, 'Pizza Gyoza'!" Donnie looked at the restaurant. "Mr. Muricami must have some new specials."

Leo adjusted his hat and looked at the sign. "We really should keep working…" Mikey gasped, "Dude! We've been working all day, its past noon and we haven't eaten, and that pizza gyoza is calling my name. I'm starving!" Leo sighed in defeat. "Alright. But make it quick."

Mr. Muricami owned a small family restaurant that revolved around foreign cuisine. It wasn't super popular, but the food was good and the service was the best in town. Mr. Muricami lost his sight 27 years ago from unknown circumstances, but he was such a talented cook that it didn't hinder his business in the slightest. When Mikey opened the door the bell sounded and Mr. Muricami greeted them without turning from his work. "Ah, turtles please come in and sit down." Raph whispered to Donnie, "I still can't get used to that." Each of the turtles took a seat at the bar where Muricami busily flipped and chopped with a smile on his face. "What can I get you boys today?"

Mikey couldn't sit still, "We'd all like an order of your 'pizza gyoza'!" Leo took note of Mikey's bouncing knees and tapping fingers and spoke up, "Uh, does that gyoza have any caffeine in it?" Muricami chuckled. "No, Leonardo-san. All pizza gyoza is decaffeinated."

A door marked "Employees Only" swung open and a shaggy haired teenager with a bandana around his forehead wiped his hands on a towel. "We got another takeout order for the O'neils. They want the usual." When he spoke, the turtles noticed a missing front tooth. At the mention of the customers' name, Donnie raised an eye-ridge. Muricami turned to the messy boy. "Of course, Mr. Jones. I will send you to deliver it when it is done." Donnie looked the guy over and didn't like what he saw. "Uh, would that be an April O'neil?"

The teen lazily leaned against the counter. "We don't give out information of our customers to strangers. Who are you supposed to be?" Donnie's guard went up. "I'm Donnie, and I happen to be a close friend to the O'neils. I could take the food to them myself on our way out." The toothless stranger smirked. "Oh really? Because, I deliver food there quite often, and she hasn't mentioned you before…" Donnie was on the defensive. Just how often did he visit the household? And how much did he talk to April?

Muricami sensed the tension in the room and quickly shoved a box into the delivery boy's hands. "Casey, just make sure you make it brief. I don't need you wasting time with chit chat again." Casey's cheeks turned pink and he sent one last glare to Donnie before heading out the door.

Donnie suddenly lost his appetite. "Mr. Muricami, can we take that order to go?"


End file.
